Writing Melarandra #1

Seeing as this blog is World of Melarandra, I figured after 2 years or so I should probably post a few things about it.

I have no idea why I named my world Melarandra. I was writing the tale (handwritten btw) and the name came to me. I'm not certain if it was something I wrote, or a whisper in the back of my mind, but when I wrote it, I loved it.

A few character names were decided from the beginning. I had the three goddesses, the twins, their sister and parents, and Gillock. The names of the guards, other friends, didn't come at first.

Most names popped into my head, or were a play on people I knew. Each character in the first book has one or more personality traits of friends and family. No one character is based on one soul. Usually it was a few. Koral and Eric are based on my various personalities, and Brin is a combination of both of my children.

When I sat down at my notebook, it was just little brief ideas. Weeks later, I decided to actually begin writing it. The name of the town came then, along with other villages, and the idea that the king did not live in the city he was supposed to live in. Of course it was run by a corrupt duke. That's how these things work.

After a few chapters, I decided to doodle an idea of what this particular area of Melarandra should look like. I knew I wanted it separate from the other areas, and that it was the fault of wizards. Why and other related questions were answered as I went about my story. Things fell into place, and I kept getting more excited.

This was back in 1999/2000. My children were young so writing was an hour here and there. Every chance I had I tried to write things down. A year later we got a computer. It was game changing! Took a while to get what I had written already done, but once I did the words began to flow. Of course, having young kids means this occurred once or twice a month. If I was lucky.

Seeing my world take shape filled me up in a way I never dreamed. The sad realisation that I did not have any support in this matter made it difficult for me to actually open the file and continue. So, I went about jotting notes down about the different people and places that surrounded the are in which book 1 takes place. Having that little joy helped a lot.

Don't ever give up. Even is no one supports what you are doing, keep at it! You'll never regret it.